Man in Chains Unshackled
Submitted by jesuslover on Tue, 03/24/2009 - 00:13.
Man in Chains Unshackled
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- Man in Chains Unshackled
- Casting out a legion of Demons
- Luke 8:26-39
- Verse 26
- They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.
- Verse 27
- When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.
- Verse 28
- When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!"
- What are Demons?
- Disembodied spirits in the sea from God's judgment of the prehistoric earth (??)
- Unclean spirits (Matt. 10:1)
- Spirits that embody humans (Matt. 12:43-45)
- What do demons do?
- Possess, take control of people
- "Many times it had seized him" – V. 29
- Force humans to behave unnatural or inhumanly (see v. 28)
- 1) Supernatural strength (see Acts 19:16)
- "though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains "– v. 29
- 2) Cause their host to live in the tombs
- 3) Shouting loudly
- What do demons do?
- Possess, take control of people
- Force humans to behave unnatural or inhumanly
- Deceive intelligently
- 1) Infiltrating the church with damaging teachings, such as forbidding marriage and abstaining from foods (1 Tim.4:1-3)
- 2) Hiding behind idols, waiting to "fellowship with their worshippers (1 Cor. 19-20)
- 3) Able to foretell the future (Acts 16:19)
- Damage or harm their host
- Falling on the ground, foaming at the mouth, wounding, suicidal, causing physical and mental disorders.
- Similarities to Indwelling Sin
- Romans 7:14-20
- For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
- Sin "LIVES" in the flesh
- Indwelling Sin
- Enslaves us
- Binds us, rendering us helpless to do what we know we should
- Damages our humanity
- Causes us to despise our human existence
- Unleashes evil into the unsuspecting mind
- Verses 30-31
- Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
- Verses 32-33
- A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
- Christ has authority
- over the demons
- Christ has received all authority in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18)
- Christ casts out demons by the Spirit of God, bringing in the kingdom of God (Matt. 12:28)
- Christ has given this authority to the church
- Matthew 16:18
- "...and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
- Verses 35-37
- When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
- Verses 38-39
- The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 3"Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.